Palestinian youth killed in West Bank

A Palestinian man has been shot dead by Israeli occupation soldiers in the West Bank town of Tulkarim.

17 Nov 2003 12:21 GMT

Palestinian youths throw stones at Israeli soldiers

Palestinian medical sources have named the man as Yusuf Talib, 22, who was hit in the chest and abdomen when Israeli troops entered the town, firing at a group of stone-throwing Palestinians.

Local people told Aljazeera.net that Israeli special forces entered the refugee camp in the town and assassinated theman.

One resident said Talib might have been targeted because of his brother.

''I have heard that Yusuf Talib's brother was martyred, and so the army wanted to kill him for revenge. The special forces entered the refugee camp at 4am and began opening fire, Talib was hit'', said the man.

Collective punishment

The Israeli occupation army are known to carry out targeted killings of individuals whose family members may have been responsible for carrying our resistance attacks inside Israel.

The resident who did not want to be named said that there was widespread anger in the refugee camp about the killing.

''They entered the camp when it was dark and started shooting, once they had killed the young man, the Israelis fled. This is cowardly behaviour.''

The targeted killing of civilians is against the Fourth Geneva Convention. International law seeks to safeguard the lives of protected persons and to uphold violations of human rights laws.

"They entered the camp when it was dark and started shooting. This is cowardly behaviour"

Tulkarim resident

The Palestinian Society for the Protection of Human Rights and the Environment (lAW) has carried out research into the targeted killing of Palestinian civilians.

The organisation found that in 2002 Israel had been responsible for killing 166 Palestinians through targeted political killings and injured 63 Palestinian bystanders.

Curfew

Meanwhile, the Aljazeera correspondent in the West Bank has said soldiers have invaded villages around the city of Nablus.

A number of houses near the village of Asirah, north of the city have been raided by Israeli soldiers.

The village has been under curfew for the past six days. The correspondent says that the entrance to the cities of Tobas and Tamon have been blocked by soldiers.